


Sardines

by betweenthebliss



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Christmas Music, Gen, Holidays, Humor, Missing Scene, slight AU, under 1000 words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-09
Updated: 2010-07-09
Packaged: 2017-10-10 11:45:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/99390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betweenthebliss/pseuds/betweenthebliss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>#12 Grimmauld Place isn't a small house, but there are only so many places to hide from Celestinia Warbeck. Thankfully, Tonks doesn't mind company.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sardines

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a round-robin drabble project I did with some friends; the slight AU is because I tend to write a higher degree of friendship between Tonks and Snape than is present in the books, and also since this is extremely vague on time to the point of possibly defying canon.

It was incessant. It was obnoxious. It was bloody _warbling_ in a high-pitched scratchy screechy soprano, and Tonks was right sick of it. Just because it was Christmas, she seethed to herself as she stomped up the stairs at what seemed an unreasonable-- not to mention unseasonable-- hour of the morning, was no reason for Molly-- who she loved dearly, like a second Mum, truly-- to subject the entire _household_ to Celestinia Warbeck from sunup to sundown.

"Bloody waily woman, I'll give her a cauldron full of hot strong shut the hell up," she muttered under her breath, her hair dark red and sticking straight up in a festive imitation of Harry's. "Is there nowhere in this place I can escape this madness?" she demanded of the house at large, having exhausted the basement and the attic as possibilities and feeling it was beneath her pride to lock herself in the bedroom with a blanket draped over the door.

Then, just as she thought she'd go truly, if comically, insane, she remembered the maid's closet on the fourth floor. It was reasonably roomy and certainly as far from the kitchen and Molly's wireless as it was possible to get and still be in the house. Making a beeline for it, Tonks stopped outside the door and guiltily eyed both ends of the corridor before slipping inside and latching the door behind her.

"Oh thank Merlin," she breathed as the silence settled around her like a hug. Sighing again, she backed up a step, feeling for the light.

"Watch out!" a voice warned, and Tonks started violently, falling over several brooms and a bucket and ending up in a heap of limbs and sticks in front of a slightly dusted and very disgruntled looking...

"Fleur?" she said, almost unable to believe her eyes.

"Oui," said the blonde a bit waspishly. "What-- you are going to ask what am I doing in ze broom closet, yes? Well I will tell you, but do not repeat-- I could not take it anymore. Zat 'orrible screeching, 'ow anyone can call zat music-- What?" she asked even more tartly, as Tonks had begun to cackle.

"Oh Merlin, it's just that's what I, and there was nowhere else..." she trailed off as her face screwed up and she sneezed.

"You mean, you too?" Fleur said, brightening, now offering Tonks a hand up.

"Of course!" she cried as she stood, brushing off her clothes. "I'd leave the house altogether but it's bloody freezing out there and I lent my hat and scarf to-- _ssshh_," she stopped dramatically as footsteps were heard outside and the handle to the closet door began to turn. Fleur clutched her arm as if terrified the intruder would be Molly with the wireless in hand.

But the door opened and Tonks, momentarily blinded by the light from the hallway, couldn't tell who it was until he spoke, voice full of rue and badly-masked frustration. "Excuse me. Clearly I have the wrong door. I'll leave you to your--" But it was enough.

"Severus," Tonks gasped, seizing his hand, already laughing again and practically breathless with it. "If you're looking for the Haters of Celestinia Warbeck Anonymous meeting, you've come to the right place."

Snape hesitated a moment, then curtly shut the closet door behind him and sat down as ceremoniously as it was possible to do on an upturned mop bucket, letting his head fall back against the wall of the closet with a sigh of relief that he did nothing at all to hide.

"Nymphadora," he murmured after a few minutes, "I need not remind you that if you decide to repeat this story to anyone there are far more embarrassing things I might say about you."

Tonks smothered a giggle and nodded gravely. "Don't worry, Severus," she whispered. "My lips are sealed."


End file.
